Windsor notes key Red Bull choice during Q3: 'Could have been different'

Kevin Magnussen grabbed pole position on Friday of the Brazilian GP weekend. The Dane was hunted down by Max Verstappen, but stayed ahead of the Dutchman by two tenths of a second. F1 expert Peter Windsor sees what Red Bull Racing could have done better.

Windsor analyses Magnussen and Verstappen's final lap in Q3 of qualifying. The Red Bull driver and Haas driver entered the track first, giving them a big advantage over the other drivers. This was because there was light rain, which quickly reduced track grip. Although the difference in track position was not very big, Magnussen still managed to keep the much faster champion Red Bull car behind him.

Red Bull had enough speed for different set-up

That Magnussen managed this was partly due to the falling rain. The first sectors of the two drivers were almost equal, according to Windsor. It was in sector two that Verstappen lost time. The Dutchman had a small mistake in turn eight. Sector three was then also almost equal again for the drivers. Verstappen's mistake could have been due to the rain, but Windsor thinks Red Bull could also have tuned the car differently to be stronger in the curvy section of the track.

Windsor says in a video on YouTube: "It's been the same story all year; Red Bull and Honda are incredibly fast on the straights. They have miraculous aerodynamic efficiency. They probably should have given him [Verstappen] more downforce for sector two, because his advantage on the straight was really ridiculous." At 327 km/h, Verstappen's top speed was a whopping 10 kilometres faster than Magnussen's. That makes Magnussen's performance brilliant, according to Windsor. On the other hand, Red Bull had plenty of room to sacrifice some speed and drive through sector two with a bit more downforce.